As we look forward to getting back into the pollinator meadows and beehives, as spring approaches and we set goals for 2016, we are also reflecting on the year we just completed, on lessons learned, achievements made and moments shared.

We have asked our community beekeepers to spend some time reflecting on what the year meant to them, and the following was written by Jim, who has been on the team since day one, and who’s understanding of the bees and their value, never ceases to impress us.

“This has been another great year. I’m still always learning so much – both about bees and their products (ie. wax and honey), and about many people, in and out of the community, thanks to the many connections made through our workshops and either working together or meeting people when we go to their site to inspect the hives there. I also constantly have opportunities to share my knowledge with others. It’s great when someone is just slightly interested in bees or curious about honey or something, and then ten minutes later, realizing I’ve only scratched the surface of how amazing and beneficial bees truly are, they’ve become fascinated with them. Our goals and needs are also quite diverse, so there a variety of work to ‘bee’ done: from inspecting hives, to building hive boxes and gardening for pollinators, attracting many different people to do the work. This has provided many opportunities to both build and strengthen relationships as we work together or trade stories and share our love of bees. It’s great how many pollinator supporters we’ve recruited and the degree to which we’ve informed more people of the plight of the honey bees and the pollinators in general. I’m frequently amazed by our growth and this was another impressive year both for the growth of our operation and of our reputation/people’s knowledge and awareness of us. This has given us more supporters and greater degrees of various kinds of support. Personally, I think one of this year’s greatest accomplishments would have been acquiring the “Bee Space”. Having our own space provides so many opportunities that I can’t wait to see it reach it’s potential. Overall we’ve achieved a lot of things this year and I don’t think I’m the only one who’s proud to have had the opportunity to be a part of it.”

Jim working with Ian

Pollinator Meadow

Jim inspecting brood

We’ll be sharing more testimonials as they come in, and look for our upcoming Annual Report which will share more stories from 2015 — sign up for our newsletter and/or keep an eye out!